Garage door



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SQ SEES E. BOUTHILLIER GARAGE DOOR Filed Dec. 24, 1931 FIG. 4

SEE EEZIEQEE Q1 Feb. 2, 1937.

Feb. 2, 1937. E. BOUTHILLIER 2,069,665

GARAGE DOOR Filed Dec. 24, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 II. llll l l ll l lHH I O U. uh m r w 1 F -IIFIHHHML j d W 2 w a m 2 w w w. I .1 V W 2% 4 2 r /w v v w f if I llll 1 I ili fb w L W. r J w v mm 2 a 2 w x Patented Feb. 2, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 8 Claims.

This invention relates to a garage door, as described in the present specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings that form part of the same.

The invention consists essentially in the means employed for holding'the door fast to its closed position and facilitating the opening and turning of the door within a prescribed space as pointed out in the claims for novelty following a description in detail of the preferred features of construction.

The objects of the invention are to facilitate the operation of vertical sliding or rolling garage doors in which the doors disappear into the garage, and take their places under the ceiling in the least possible space, to put it in another way, to increase the height of the garage door to the fullest extent in relation to the height of the garage; to simplify the mechanism in these sliding lifting doors so that the hardware parts may be comparatively few in number and require the minimum of machine work to finish; to maintain the doors at a reasonable cost; and generally to insure efficiency and duration in so far as garage doors are concerned.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevational view of the track and an end elevational view of the door in its closed position.

Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the door broken away showing the track and door frame.

Figure 3 is an end elevational view of the door in its open position showing the track.

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view of the door frame track and door.

Figure 5 is a perspective detail of the rolling anchoring bars.

Figure 6 is a cross sectional view of the track and binding cam.

Figure '7 is a reduced front elevational view of the door.

Figure 8 is an enlarged elevational view of the track and the supporting angle iron for its pivoted section showing the parts incidental to the closing movement and the position of the door in dotted lines.

Figure 9 is an elevational view of the track broken away at the inner end showing the position of the door in its partly open position in dotted lines and the position of the pivoted secrelative positions of the angle iron and the wall to which it is secured, and a pivoted track section.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 15 indicates the ceiling sections of the tracks, which extend from the upper end of the door frame 16 inwardly and are supported by the suspending brackets ll from the ceiling, these tracks turning at the corner formed bythe door frame and the ceiling in the arcuate lengths i8. '10

The pivoted sections 22 of the tracks are supported by the vertical angle bars 19 which are rigidly bolted to the door frame and the track lengths swing on the section 26 of the angle bar from the pivot 23 at the lower end. These 15 track lengths being secured in the slots 21 in said section 26 by the headed pins 24, therefore these pivoted lengths swing from the bottom to and from the door frame out of alignment and into alignment with the arcuate sections of the track.

The strap brackets are secured to the wider upper portion of the section 26, therefore the track and door are pushed in to the door frame very closely by the rollers 21 in fact they really push the door to the frame.

The door itself is made up of horizontal divisions or sections 28, which are hinged together by the end hinges 29 and the middle hinges 30.

The pins 3| of the end hinges extend beyond the barrels of the hinges and carry in the first 30 place the pressure rollers 2'! and the runner rollers 32. These runner rollers 32 travel in the G- tracks l5 and carry the door with the track in pushing it tightly to the frame in its closed position.

The door at the upper end is pivotally secured to curved levers forming the anchor bars 33, these anchor bars having the pivotally mounted rollers 34 running in the tracks l5 and bearing during the operation in the loop extensions 35 from the arcuate lengths iii of the track. These arcuate lengths are rigidly secured to the plates 31 to connect the fixed track portion to the pivoted track sections 22.

The S-shaped anchor bars 33 are really links from the upper end of the door to the tracks and therebeyond and the rollers 34 in said s-shaped bars or links run in the tracks from the middle of the arcuate track sections to the end of the track sections l5, though in the operation these links hold the door to the track and guide it in passing the corner or arcuate sections of the track and it is by means of these S-shaped bars that the door swings around, for as explained, the rollers 38 bear on the loops 35 and guide the topmost section of the door around the curve in such a manner as to hold it closely therein and as the door continues to move inwardly it draws the S-bars with it.

The helical springs 39 are hooked at one end 46 to the inner end of the horizontal lengths 36 of the tracks I5 and at their outerends carry the pulleys 4i journalled in the pivot bearings 42.

The pulleys 43 are journalled in the pivot bearlngs M5 on the plate brackets 31, and the cables 45 extending from the arms 46 at the lower end of the door, are trained over the. pulleys 43 and ti and brought back to the plate brackets 31 and there secured at 41, thus the door itself lifts very easily and swings around to an open position.

The lugs 48 from the anchor bars, assuming the door is in its horizontal position, rest on the plates 49 and are carried with the door to the inner position.

In the operation of this invention, the door is in a partly balanced position, through the spring and the cable but there is nothing of any great importance in this part of the invention, for it is well known to use springs in balancing the weight of a door.

The door in rising from its closed position simply slides up the track sections 22 automatically aligning said track sections with the track sections it. The upper end of the door carries the two links which also have running rollers. As soon as these links reach the curved or arcuate sections of the track the top section of the door is drawn in the direction of the track and this throws the end down so that the pin at the inner end of the link drops down and bears on the loop forms of bearings, thus taking the weight off the running rollers of the door itself and just so soon as the upper door section is swung around into the horizontal fixed section, the door drags the links along with it until they reach the plates 49 on which they rest.

At the closing of the door the track sections 22 and 18 are in alignment, so the door simply travels from its horizontal position around the arcuate section and into the vertical sections or pivoted sections just as the links on the return journey advance in the arcuate sections l8 and are swung around in the loop bearings, drawing the upper door section with them.

The pressure rollers come into action through engaging the strap brackets which push the pivoted section at the upper end in the direction of the door frame for the strap brackets engage the rollers and this moves the whole door in the direction of the door frame The S-shaped brackets remain in the track in a position approximately central in the arcuate sections of the track.

The vertical sections of the track are now pushed over quite out of alignment withthe arcuate sections and the door reaches its lower position where it is pinched into the proper tight hold against the door frame at the lower pivoted ends of the vertical lengths of the track.

on their pivots, the headed rivets merely holding them from falling away from the angle post and not in any way combining with the slots in said track sections to alter the position of the latter for releasing the pressure on the door or restoring that pressure.

The first movement as explained, releases the cam rollers, which is practically instantaneous with the door movement in leaving the sill.

The track sections are then free to find their alignment with the arcuate track sections and there can be no binding of the uppermost panel, for it is moving upwardly with the track sections in their same positions as when pressing against the door, for it will be noticed that there is a distinct length between the door roller and arcuate track section.

In other words, the top panel of the door can be lifted upwardly on the inner pivoted tracks in their pressure position until the split between the upper panel and the next lower panel reaches the arcuate section and for this purpose, there is quite suflicient play in the structural features of the door to permit the anchoring levers or links to roll on before beginning to turn over into the loop 35, for that begins to happen when the split between the upper panels reaches the arcuate sections and in actual operation no such trouble as binding or anything of the like has occurred.

What I claim is: a

1. In a garage door, hinged door sections having hinge pins extending beyond each door edge and carrying rollers, fixed arcuate track sections inwardly curved and extended, pivotally mounted track sections swinging from the lower ends in arcuate paths into registering positions with the lower ends of said fixed sections, a pair of brackets, one for each of the pivoted tracks and having cam plates flanged to enclose said tracks and rollers, angle posts rigidly se-,

cured to a door frame and fixedly supporting said brackets and adjustably supporting the swinging track sections, means for lifting and lowering the door and supplemental rollers on certain hinge pins engaging said cams for jamming the door to its shut position.

2. In a garage door, a plurality of horizontally divided door sections, a plurality of hinges joining said sections and having extended hinge pins and rollers as running gear and guide rollers, angle posts secured to the vertical frame members of the doorway and having retaining rivet heads projecting therefrom at intervals, track sections pivotally mounted adjacent to the lower ends of said angle posts and slotted for 'said retaining heads, cam brackets fixedly mounted on said angle posts adjacent to the track ends of the vertical track sections and having curved cam edges contacting with the guide rollers for swinging said track sections and the door to the closed position and for bolding it there, continuation track sections meeting said vertical section in the relief of the engagement of said cams and means for lifting the door and effecting this relief.

3. In a garage door, a door frame with vertical jambs, hinged door sections having hinge pins extending beyond each door edge, running gear roller mounted on said extended hinge pins and guide rollers mounted on one set of extended hinge pins, angle posts secured to the vertical frame members of the doorway track sections pivotally mounted adjacent to the lower ends of said angle posts, cam brackets fixedly mounted on said angle posts adjacent to the upper ends of the vertical track sections and having curved cam edges contacting with the guide rollers for swinging said track sections and the door continuation track sections meeting said vertical section in the relief of the engagement of said cams and means for lifting the door and effecting this relief.

4. In a garage door, a door frame with vertical jambs, hinged door sections having hinge pins extending beyond each door edge, and carrying rollers, tracks having lower front sections pivotally supported and swinging in arcuate paths from their pivot mountings into and out of alignment with fixed sections of tracks said tracks bearing said rollers and door sections, means for lifting and lowering the door and guide means adjacent to the upper ends of said lower front section of tracks forming a guide for said tracks and door sections on the door being lowered and causing the tracks to swing on their pivots towards the door frame.

5. In a garage door, a frame having jambs, hinged door sections having hinge pins extending beyond each door edge and carrying rollers, fixed arcuate track sections inwardly curved and extended, pivotally mounted track sections swinging from the lower ends in arcuate paths into registering positions with the lower ends of said fixed sections said track sections adapted to engage with said rollers, cams fixedly mounted independent of and towards the upper ends of said swinging track sections, means for lifting and lowering the door, and supplemental rollers on certain hinge pins adapted to engage said cams for jamming the door to its shut position against said jambs.

6. In a sectional door structure, a plurality of door sections of substantially rectangular configuration and arranged in superposed relationship, hinge members uniting said sections at their meeting edges, rollers carried by said hinge members, guide tracks arranged at the sides of the door sections and in which said rollers are received, means for admitting of limited oscillation of said guide tracks about a horizontal pivotal axis, and means carried by one of said door sections and cooperative with a wedge element mounted independently of said tracks to move said tracks and said door sections into close fitting engagement with a door jamb when said sections are substantially in a position of closure.

7. In a sectional rollered door closure, a plurality of door filler sections arranged in vertical superposed relationship when in a position of closure with respect to an associated doorway, hinge members uniting the meeting portions of said sections, rollers carried by said sections, a pair of track rails arranged contiguous to the sides of said sections for the reception of said rollers, means affording limited movement of said track rails toward and away from an associated door jamb, a stationary Wedge bracket mounted in connection with the door jamb, and interengaging means carried by one of said door sections and cooperative with said wedge bracke t when the door sections are substantially in position of doorway closure to move said guide rails and the door sections carried thereby into close fitting engagement with the door jamb.

8. In a sectional door structure, a plurality of door sections of substantially rectangular con figuration and arranged in superposed relationship, hinge members uniting said sections at their meeting edges, rollers carried by said hinge members, guide tracks arranged at the sides of the door sections and in which said rollers are received, said guide tracks being mounted at their lower ends for rocking movement upon horizontally extending pivots, and means carried by one of said door sections and cooperative with additional means carried by the door jamb to move said track and door into close fitting engagement with the door jamb when said sections are substantially in a position of closure.

EMILE BOUTI-IILLIER. 

